Intellect

Post 170

It would not be proper to end this discussion series without addressing at least in passing the topic of the intellect; i.e. The knowledge of the mind.

I often have conversations with “good solid Christians” who have a lifetime of learning under their belts and years of religious practice.
Yet in a short time it is easy to show them the mirror of truth in which they can see their knowledge comes short of the promised life of peace and joy and power.
There is a moment when I see realization dawn as they recognize themselves in the mirror, seeing perhaps for the first time their actual desperate state, but in their new excitement of realizing they already know the real answers to real problems, they turn away from the mirror thinking to enter the conversation showing agreement, but actually use their vast biblical knowledge as an intellectual equal, and talk themselves right out of what they just saw in the mirror, all the while thinking they agree with the one trying to help.
I go away deeply sad, they go away thinking they made a connection.

What happened?

Knowing about something, and actually doing it are two different things.

“For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: (presumably a mirror *1)
For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgeteth what manner of man he was.” James 1:23-24

In this case the intellect usually has the encouragement of an adoring heart.
And so with the heart and mind in agreement over its knowledge, there is little that can be done to provide a new life altering understanding to the familiar words already known.

“The surest barrier to truth is the assumption you already have it.” Chuck Missler

I know a man who lives in more poverty than most Americans, yet given the opportunity I am confident he would give Bill Gates financial advice.

I think we all know people who live in perhaps less dramatic variations of this same mentality, because what they think they know for sure, does not seem to be affected by their inability to implement it in reality!

This is the condition of an intellectual Christian whose vast knowledge fails to provide successful application in their lives.
Yet because their heart is in love with their mind, they cannot accept that what they see in the mirror of truth actually applies to them.
So their heart uses their very intellect to explain that their desperate condition is the intended state of normality.
This is called Pride.
I am still shocked at the degree of depravity we are capable, and yet remain proud of it.
This is self deception.

* * *

So what does the above passage tell us is the solution to such a state?

Lets go back a few verses to get the answer:

“Wherefore lay apart all filthiness 4507 and superfluity 4050 of naughtiness, 2549 and receive with meekness 4240 the engrafted 1721 word, which is able to save your souls.” James 1:21

filthiness 4507 rhuparia; from 4508; dirtiness (moral).
superfluity 4050 perisseia; from 4052; surplusage, i.e. superabundance;
4052 perisseuo; from 4053; to superabound (in quantity or quality), be in excess, be superfluous; also (trans.) to cause to superabound or excel.
naughtiness 2549 kakia; from 2556; badness, i.e. (subjective) depravity, or (actual) malignity, or (passive) trouble.

This is a verse that is usually and incredibly missed as we read this entire passage, but it is here where we find the answer to the problem.

Skipping over for a second the “Wherefore” reason for the directed action, we see in this verse we are directed to actually do two things;

1st - Put away from us all immorality and our incredible abundance of depravity.

But the verse does not end there. The removal of something is to be replaced by something else;

meekness 4240 prautes; from 4239; mildness, i.e. (by implication) humility.
4239 praus; apparently a primary word; mild, i.e. (by implication) humble.
engrafted 1721 emphutos; from 1722 and a derivative of 5453; implanted (figurative).
1722 en; a primary prep. denoting (fixed) position (in place, time or state), and (by implication) instrumentality (medially or constructively), i.e. a relation of rest…

2nd - AND receive with appropriate humility the deeply rooted, life altering, stabilizing word of God…

Is this passage disparaging knowledge?
By no means. It is instructing us to not only acquire it, but to incorporate it into our very beings.
It is instructing us to actually learn by experience the use of the knowledge to produce a specific result.
The goal is not knowledge, but the result that the knowledge makes possible.
That result is the salvation of our souls...by application.

In other words, stop hanger flying with words, and go get your airplane off the ground to actually live your talk and see how it flies.
Only here in application is where your knowledge of faith is tested to prove your faith.
It is by trial that your theoretical knowledge is converted into practical experience.

“For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer…” James 1:23
“If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:” I John 1:6

God is experienced... Not intellectually known.

I find myself discouraged of hope for the person who’s life shows them to be a spiritual basket case, but who excitedly quotes the scriptures that would give them life if they would just apply it.
This kind of knowledge without successful application is actually an inoculation against a converted soul, because their personal experience tells them it doesn’t work in reality.
This is bad enough, but these people cannot quit flapping their lips of true but empty words, and poison the potential faith of others as well.

"But woe unto you,... Hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in." Matthew 23:13 (see also Matthew 23:15, 15:3-9)

* * *

Now lets go back and take a look at the “wherefore” that gives reason for the action directed;

wherefore 1352 dio; from 1223 and 3739; through which thing, i.e. consequently.

To see this we need to back up to the verse immediately preceding the wherefore;

“Of his (God’s) own will begat 616 he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures.
Wherefore…” James 1:18

Begat 616 [only use, elsewhere begat is 1080] apokueo; from 575 and the base of 2949; to breed forth, i.e. (by transf.) to generate (figuratively).

We see that it is God himself who of his own will, gives us new birth using the word of truth.
Following the context of James we readily see that Jesus himself is this word of truth which the scriptures speak words of truth to reveal.
It is experiencing this word of truth in our real life application that presents us a kind of prototype of his intention for life.
(James was written to the Jewish believers who are actually the first-fruits James was describing, yet in this church age, Gentile believers are also of this class yet perhaps second-fruits as it were.)

Consequently, my beloved brethren, let us all be swift to hear, but hesitant to hanger fly our faith, and slow to wrath even for a righteous cause:
Because the wrath of man (even men of faith) does not work the righteousness of God. James 1:19-20 paraphrased

Since even righteous wrath of man does not accomplish God’s intended righteousness, how much less our filthiness and abundant uncleanness?
“Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.” James 1:21

Now we can continue to the next verse;
“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” James 1:23

We now easily see that two men can hear the same word; one results in successful application of faith as a doer, where the other results in an empty faith with nothing but words ending in self deception.

“Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” II Timothy 3:5

* * *

We see in this verse the topic is people having a form of godliness which we are to have nothing to do with.
Now lets go to the earlier verses to see the characteristics of these religious people;

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God;” II Timothy 3:1-4

We don’t recognize by this description (ending with a semicolon) that these are people showing themselves to be godly, and so we miss the entire purpose of the passage!

Most people reading this passage can say;
Do I love myself? Nope… not more than I should.
Do I covet? Nope… though there are things I see others have I wish I could have too.
Do I boast? Nope… I am really good at not boasting!
Am I proud? Nope… Pride is evil, and I am not evil like others!
Do I blaspheme? No way!... though nearly every movie I watch and every friend I have does, and occasionally I might use God’s name in an expression, but that is not intentional blasphemy.
Am I disobedient to my parents? Nope! And I’m sure glad I grew old enough to get out of their house, they are really hard to get along with, you know, like most parents these days.
Am I thankful? I would be, but I don’t have anything to be thankful for. I had to scratch for everything I have and I made my own way in this harsh world.
Am I without natural affection? What is that? Natural is a relative term. I don’t have any affections that aren’t natural in our world today.
Am I a truce breaker? No. I am loyal to all my friends, I would die for them! But if you cross me, watch out!...

And on and on the list goes.
You see if we read the generic list it is easy to say “Nope, not me.” But if we seriously evaluate it, we find that we have to add explanations that make our actual breach of the list ok.
Today far too many Christians fall into nearly every character flaw in this list!
But we have modified our Christianity with reasoning that allows it.
This is hollow, empty, powerless pretense of godliness.
“…From such turn away.” II Timothy 3:5

* * *

I have been accused of being negative. Yet I have only scratched the surface of the great volume of scripture that carefully covers this great plague of powerless faith.

The purpose is not to beat you with your flaws, but to show you the trap which you may have fallen into, as I myself did.
Only when you see where you really stand, can you apply the proper tools to make the change.

Reading my explanation of scripture may help you look into the mirror with clear eyes, but my words cannot save your soul. You must learn by experience how to apply the word of truth, remembering that the word of truth is Jesus himself.
But you can’t apply what you don’t know.
I beg you to now take the time to read carefully the entire chapters used here and ask God to give you his intent for your personal action.

James 1 and
II Timothy 3


* * * * * * *

*1 Glass 2072
I am not confident the original intent actually describes a mirror.
We read in I Corinthians 13:12 “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”
This is the same word glass, but here we are looking through it with obscurity. This suggests more like a windowpane than an actual mirror.

Glass 2072 esoptron; from 1519 and a presumed derivative of 3700; a mirror (for looking into). Compare with 2734.
1519 eis; a primary prep.; to or into…
3700 [a complicated form;] to gaze.
2734 katoptrizomai; mid. From a composition of 2596 and a derivative of 3700 [compare with 2072]; to mirror oneself. i.e. to see reflected (figuratively).
2596 kata; a primary particle (prep.) down (in place or time) in varied relations (according to the case…)…[quite complex]

I believe our present passage reads with greater understanding when we comprehend this man sees his reflection in a window pain.
This kind of reflection is less stark and far easier to forget as it is but a ghostly image when staring directly at it. Nothing theological here, just a thought.
*

Follow up

The Heart 2

Post 169

I am by no means a horse wrangler but have spent a fair bit of time riding horses.
I don’t ever remember a time when the thought of climbing onto a horse for a ride made me think it was going to be work, except perhaps when I knew I would be riding a stubborn problem horse.

For a trained horse, the rider doesn’t even think twice about the “work” of guiding the horse where he wants to go. It is such second nature to both the rider and the horse that they both nearly think the other must be telepathic. But this “telepathy” only happens as long as the rider keep applying regular gentle guidance with the reins as he keeps the destination in mind.
It is not a matter of a war with your horse (unless you have not trained it properly), But you cannot tell your horse where you want to go.
You have to guide it so that you can arrive there.
This does not make your horse bad.

The rider might give the horse lots of liberty to choose step by step just how to get there, all the while maintaining the general direction to insure they arrive at the intended destination, or the rider might over work them both by picking the specific rout around every bush and rock.
But unless the rider has virtually no destination in mind, he does not give the horse its head and let it go wherever it wants, because you can bet the horse does not want with desire to go where the rider wants to go.
Yet this is exactly what many Christians do with their heart, and then wonder how they ended up where they find themselves deep in trouble; both spiritually and temporally.

The key to making the spiritual journey safe and successful, is to know where you intend to go, and have a heart that is trained to take your lead.
The horse is not held accountable for not purposing to arrive at your destination; that is not its job. That is not something it has the ability to do. Best horse or worst horse, the horse is desperately wicked. 605 (Jeremiah 17:9)

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible:
wicked 605 anash;Hebrew; a primary root; to be frail, feeble, or (figuratively) melancholy. [other descriptive words] incurable, sick, woeful.

But I have ridden horses that have a single minded focus on the barn.
This horse will take the determined guidance of the rider, but the second the rider lets up, the horse artfully navigates the steps to somehow be aimed back at the barn!
This kind of horse has a mind of its own and is not interested in trying to go where the rider intends. From a practical view the horse is willful and stubborn and missing the spirit of horse and rider.

Usually the reason for this single focused mindset is because it has learned that it normally gets a bucket of oats after arriving back at the barn.
The horse loves the oats.

All this imagery applies directly to our hearts.
The heart is yours, it is your job to train it to go where you direct with your will. But the destination is your obligation, not the heart's
Does your heart love a vice? Does it love innocent amusements to distraction? Does it despise the things of God? You are accountable because it is your heart. You trained it.
Your heart and your mind are a unit, like a horse and its rider.

"I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings." Jeremiah 17:10
also Jeremiah 11:20, 20:12

* * *

But lets say you have in ignorance or through neglect, trained your horse to love the "wild oats".
Now you have finally determined to head for the kingdom with a single focus, but your heart is impossible to guide. It really wants to head back to the familiar oats.
Your will grows tired of constantly straining at the reins against the desires of your heart. The battle against such a strong animal appears to be hopeless.
Does it help to get off and beat the horse senseless?
actually it doesn't.
"A beating here in the field... Oats back at the tavern... its a no brainer, I'm heading for the tavern!"

So what are you to do?

"And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.
And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony (hard) heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh:
That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God." Ezekiel 11:18-20

Now break this passage down and investigate each line concept to hear just what it is that God is saying;

First, it is our duty to act, which is not as easy as it sounds.
Your heart loves the forbidden, and to be honest, your mind probably thinks good thought of it too. God will not give you a new heart so that you can ruin it as well. You have to do your part to seriously commit to your new focus of destination. This is a mental choice that empowers the will by knowledge and understanding.
This knowledge and understanding comes through the labor to enter into his rest.

Once we have a grasp on this knowledge and understanding, then we must by the act of will, take away all the detestable things and all the abominations we have become intimately familiar with. i.e. This is permanently removing them from the access of the heart.
They are off the table, no longer an option, no discussion no argument. Done. No amount of whining from my heart will affect me. In fact I refuse to allow my heart to even mourn the loss. This is all the act of the will in obedience to God.

THEN the LORD promises He will (speaking of the Jewish nation collectively, but to all his wayward people who return generally) give hearts of a single unification. Does he do this by re-educating it? No.
Through our labor of reformation He secretly gives us a new heart that is not trained to be stubborn. just like getting a new horse. (I will not here go into the complexities of the interconnections of the spirit and the heart mentioned.)
Now WHY does the LORD give us this new heart?
The colon gives us the answer;
So that you can guide your horse where you should go!

The new horse still has no clue where that is, but now it is not the old stubborn one bent on specific trained destructions, though it is still in its nature to wander, after all it is a horse. You still need to train this new horse, not to go where it should, but to follow your guidance. i.e. to be sensitive and quick to respond to the reins.
But don't think for a second the new heart won’t learn to love the desires of your mind if you dwell on the things you have removed!

Because a horse and rider are one package, it can often be hard to tell if the problem lies in the heart or the head until one of you chooses a different path!

Again, none of this is a real strenuous workout if you remain single minded with your eyes on the LORD. THAT is the real secret to success and the rest will fall into place.
Who do you choose to love?

* * *

Conclusion:
So if you feel that God has given you a new heart,
and you feel that your heart tells you that it loves God.
Is it then wise to listen to your heart when it tells you it would rather watch CSI five nights a week rather than spend that time with God in his word?

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" Jeremiah 17:9
*

The Heart

post 168

So what if you read the previous post, and you can see yourself clearly in that mirror. You recognize your offense to God and you really, deeply, desperately, desire to change it…

But you are just plain powerless to do anything about it?

This post is for you.

* * *

Most people are confident in their knowledge of understanding that the heart is the seat of our emotions; You have your head, and then you have your heart.

And few that I know, have a clue how to control the heart; It loves who it wants, it hates who it wants, it changes its mind whenever it wants, and it seems, for the most part, it usually wants whatever our mind does not want it to want! And the scripture seems to agree;

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9

It seems by the evidence that we should not be responsible for what we cannot control, but the very next verse says otherwise:

“I the LORD search the heart, I try (974) the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings” Jeremiah 17:10.

Now if we just want to be defensive, we will kick at this verse as generally unfair.

But if we analyze this verse, there is wisdom that will help us figure out why we are responsible. Lets start with the end of the verse and work backwards:

* * *

We do stuff that produces fruit, these are our “doings”:

In the last post we saw that good seed produces good fruit and bad seed produces bad fruit. Not really rocket science here, but scripture has made this fact indisputable.

So far in this verse, we don’t know if the fruit is good or bad, but continuing backwards we see that regardless of which it is; the LORD gives to everybody according to not only the results of what he does, but also according to the doing that ended in the results.

So we see, that a man's ways and the doing are similar but not the same things; His ways get him to where he does the doings, but his doings are what he does when he gets there via his ways.

This is not poetic mumbo-jumbo,

This is wisdom.

If your ways don’t lead you wrong, you will not usually be where your doings result in bad fruit… Usually.

This is the foundational concept behind the wise saying; "Bad company corrupts good manners."

Now lets continue backwards in deconstructing this verse;

The LORD tries the reins to see what reward to give.

We know the reins are the implements to steer the course. The reins on a horse are small cords attached to a bit that when lightly pulled gently changes the course or direction of the large strong animal... if trained.

We see by this verse, and that it follows the previous one, that the LORD tries the reins, Not for the purpose of finding out the course of the man, but to test the reins themselves, i.e. to see if they work properly on the heart (more on this in a moment).

Now the first segment of this verse;

I the LORD search the heart.

Now we are able to understand that it is the heart of a man that carries him in his direction just as the horse on which a man rides. And the LORD does an investigation to discover all that is in the heart, and how it has been trained to receive guidance, which all result in the actual destination and the kind of fruit at the end.

But God does not need to wait until the harvest, he sees it all in the moment he searches the heart and tries the reins. The rest is just obvious after that.

If you have an undisciplined, stubborn heart that will not take direction, how do YOU think things will turn out?

You see the previous verse makes clear that God doesn't need to see if the heart is wicked, that is a given.

But is it trained, is it disciplined? That is what God is looking for.

Try 974 bachan; a primitive root; to test (especially metals); generally and figuratively to investigate:- examine, prove, tempt, try (trial).

So we see here that the heart, which we cannot seem to control, is the motivating factor that gets us into trouble, or keeps us out of trouble by the path it takes us down, where we then plant our seed and harvest the resulting crop… good or bad.

But note: the crop is not the reward, but the natural result or consequence of the seeds we plant. God says he gives to every man ACCORDING, in part, to the crop harvested. So if you go down a bad path and plant bad seed (or good seed in a bad place) you get bad results; and in addition the LORD gives you accordingly.

What does he give you? That depends on where you went and what you did.

* * *

“So stop beating this dead horse already!” you cry,

“I know I am on the wrong path.”
“I know I have planted bad seed.”
“What do I do NOW, since I can’t seem to control where my heart takes me?”

In answer, I want to use another scriptural explanatory concept, but our gender defensive mentality is already so twisted from God’s way of thinking that it will only make most people mad (Genesis 3:16b), so let me simply say; Our mind needs to man up, take control, and rein in the heart. The heart is not capable of making right or wrong choices, it just goes wherever it feels to go, and it usually feels to go bad!

And here is the real crux of the problem. WE think our heart is supposed to naturally lead us wherever it feels right to go, and GOD says he tries the reins. What does that really mean?

Imagine you are riding a horse called Heart.

And God reaches down from the clouds, picks up the reins and gives a gentle tug test.

But the horse resists.

God has just tried the reins.

He sees the heart has not been trained to yield to course correction and so it is obvious that the heart has determined its own course.

God knows the resulting crop before we ever start planting.

But we never learned that we were even supposed to control our heart, and if we did, we certainly have no idea how to go about it.

But here is the part that will really get you;

You have admitted that you really want to follow the right path. You want to turn from the wrong path. You have at times put in great effort to turn your path but failed again and again, and that makes you very sad.

So doesn’t that mean your heart wants to go right but somehow can't?

NO!

In the above example; your heart is the horse, your mind is the rider, and your will is the reins.

Unlike God's test in the above example, you rarely touch the reins but just let the horse have its head to take you wherever it wants to go because you trust your heart. Sometimes you like where it goes, sometimes you don't, and when you don't (or rather, when you think God doesn't) you yell at the heart with your mind, but it doesn't listen.

God doesn't consider this good horsemanship.

The problem is that in your understanding, you have wrongly combined the heart and the emotions.

BUT YOUR HEART IS NOT THE SEAT OF YOUR EMOTIONS;

Your mind is.

* * *

It is the thoughts and understanding of your mind that creates emotions.

Now once created, they too can be hard to control, but they still are just a result of mental input. This is why you can have great anger toward someone, then be informed of a factor you were not aware of, and instantly the anger is gone. But after learning your spouse has been cheating on you, although you are instantly angry you cannot stop loving them with your heart; that takes time *1.

If you understand this concept of separation between the thoughts of the heart and the emotions of the mind, you then have a great power to begin controlling the heart because you are no longer using the wrong tool for the job.

Horses don't respond well to anger, or pleading, or crying, or logic. But they do respond to the reins if trained. Your heart is the same way.

The answer to a wayward heart is, with your mind, prepare a set path for your heart and guide it on that path making sure to faithfully eliminate as many of the distractions as possible along the way, especially at the start, and have a tight hold on the reins with your will, to immediately yard it back onto the trail when it turns its head to a distraction.

This pre-planned understanding is acquired by the mind and put to the task by the will while the heart is dragged kicking and screaming in protest.

But do not cave to its tantrums. Remember, it is in the nature of the heart to love whatever it becomes intimately familiar with. So by time and proximity to the ways of God and the nearness of God, the heart will learn to love God… Except;

 If you do not remove the things it already loves then you cannot turn its head even in the proximity of God. The heart is very strong and very stubborn, and even more deceitful of its intent. In fact most people who are ruled by their hearts cannot overpower it until faced with a crisis. Their will is the weak servant of their heart and the mind has been put out to pasture, or has determined to wholly follow the heart wherever it leads. This is unacceptable to God as it is a perversion of his creation;

“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” Proverbs 4:23 (see also; Deuteronomy 4:9).

* * *

So how do I gain power over my heart if it is now dominate?

Because of original sin, the heart has a nature to want to dominate your mind and will, but it also has the underlying design to be most contentedly compliant when led with a strong confident hand (Genesis 3:16b), I know I’m on dangerous ground but the nature of a horse will validate my claim.

This is why if you simply begin to exercise your will and stop giving in emotionally to the heart’s cries of stubborn complaint, your will can quickly grow stronger than your heart and in time your heart will comply happily.

But its a real battle at the start, after having let it learn to go where it wants!

Picture a cowboy breaking a wild horse and you get the idea; Sometimes it throws you but you climb right back on and give it another go. Keep with it, be diligent, be consistent, and eventually the heart will learn that your will is determined and dominate and it will learn to comply and eventually learn to love the leadership, congrats; you are on your way to properly breaking your wayward heart.

* * *

“Remember this, and show yourselves men: bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors. Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:” Isaiah 46:9-10.

I have been using this Blog to bring to memory things which America has forgotten in order to take pleasure in the wayward desires of her heart. I have shown how God is actually in virtually every aspect of life from our history to our future. With this reminder you can renew your mind and strengthen your will to master your heart before it leads you to utter destruction which is the ultimate reward for such a course and such a harvest, as our Jeremiah study verse describes.

* * *

But there is something you should know before you begin this endeavor:

The heart is very conniving, manipulative, deceitful, and stubborn like nothing else! but it is your job to rule over it with strength and understanding; Not in hate or resentment or anger, but to control what it loves so that it will take you into abundant blessing and a favorable reward of the LORD.

The word "heart" is used in this exact form 823 times in scripture, then there is the plural, the possession, the “hearted”s; brokenhearted, fainthearted, hardhearted, merryhearted, stiffhearted, etc., etc., not to mention the topic without using the actual word. The scriptures have quite a lot to say about the heart.

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9

This is not a cute saying; it is a warning.

There are many things in life that are deceitful, but the heart is master deceiver of them all. And with its very desperate wickedness how are you supposed to believe anything it tells you?

How many times have you heard someone say; “I know in my heart that (such and such)…”

There is only one thing you can know for sure when you let it lead;

YOUR HEART IS DECEIVING YOU!

How many times have you heard the line; “Follow your heart”?

We now know this is the surest path to destruction and hell.

Why? Does your heart hate you?

No, it just doesn't know any better, after all, it ain't your brain.

By nature it wants to be boss and thinks it’s a good boss, though it does a lousy job of leading anywhere but to ruin.

God does not require you to fix the nature of your heart, but he does require you to humble (control) it (Daniel 5:22 and many others).

So to maintain the control for itself, your heart will lie to you and tell you that you love God. And with its cooing warm and fuzzy manipulation you will believe it, because you want to believe it.

So how can you know for sure what is true?

There is only one sure and rock solid value by which to make a judgment; That is the word of God.

Such as:

“and hereby we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” I John 1:3-4.

So although your heart comfortingly reminds you that you gave your heart to Jesus back in summer camp of ’86, the scripture tells you something is not quite right.

Your heart will hold dear the mental photo album of being a Sunday school teacher back in your college days, or it will even keep reminding you of some great spiritual success you actually had not long ago proving that you are just fine. But do not believe your heart.

Your heart should not be your source of information on which to establish your course. Your heart is designed by God to go happily where you determine it will go, and it will be content to love whatever it finds along that path.

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world” I John 2:15-16.

Now for those of you already master of your heart, you have no problem with this passage, you understand that you are accountable for what you love and you now know why. But for those of you led by your heart, this passage seems like someplace you definitely don’t want to go;

“How boring,

How limited,

How restricting.”

Forgive my offense; usually obese people are fat because they have acquired an appetite for things not good for them. There are now many studies and diet programs that declare for the most part it is not the volume of food that is the problem, but the kind of foods you eat.

Likewise physically weak people are weak usually because they have acquired an appetite for sedentary lifestyles and a distaste for physical strenuous activities, etc.

These are not special people with special problems as they like to suppose, they have simply acquired a harmful appetite (I am not referring to the few rare cases of legitimate medical causes).

Any appetite acquired can be replaced, with the effort of the will. The first problem then is;

Do you really want to?

This is a choice of the mind. But if you have allowed your heart to rule long, what can a weak mind hope to do against it? This person needs to start small; find something small but harmful that the heart loves, then stamp that tiny foot of your shriveled will and say;

“Not this one, No more; I refuse to allow my heart to take me there any longer”.

Then stick with it. Sweat it out. Battle your heart until you have dominance in that area. Then pick another. Be sure to replace that time or activity with something godly as a new focus for the heart to become familiar with, I recommend prayer, or scripture reading, a bible study group, or even a good TV preacher or podcast (yes there are several good ones), something that will turn your attention to God himself and not religion. Your heart will hate it at first, expect that; it wouldn’t be training if it already liked it.

The world is full of consequences to conditioned harmful appetites, and for the most part, once acquired, the heart defends it with vigor because it has learned to love it by familiarity, just like every young man’s dream girl who wont leave the boyfriend who beats her.

Christians and non-Christians alike are often godless because they have acquired harmful appetites that consume the time or energy that should be spent with God, and the heart has learned to love this schedule even if the mind resents it!

Another manipulative trick of the heart to get its own desires, is to condemn us for our faith that results in lawful works.

“Say what?!”

…"For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things" I John 3:20.

Now with this knowledge, lets go back and read the rest of this confusing passage and you will understand what it is saying!

"My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things"

I John 3:10-20.

If our heart cries; "That's not righteousness!" or "You are trying to earn your salvation!" We can assure our heart before God that we know we are of the truth because we love in deed and truth.

Then as our heart quiets down with this assurance, we read the next verse;

"Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God" I John 3:21.

Confidence comes when the heart and mind are working in unison, because there is finally nothing dragging its feet.

* * *

“Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge” Proverbs 23:12.

For myself, the longer I spend guiding my heart down the path my mind has instructed my will to enforce, the greater my heart becomes attached to the things on this path and the less interest and longing it has for old things it is now kept away from. And now I find that over time, the things my heart used to love are no longer much of a distraction even when they come along.

But because I know for sure I can't trust my deceitful heart, I never let it choose the path (unless that is where I intended to go anyway), or even pause in dangerous old territory, nor do I let it wander unattended, all to protect it from harmful things that might quickly steal its attention.

I never believe my heart, yet I love its counsel as added input to my choices.

and if along the good path it happens to fall in love with something my mind is pleased it loves, and led it down that path for that purpose, Then well; Oh the ecstasy of joy the tender heart can bring to the mind and life.

* * *

How do you control your wayward heart?

You simply comprehend that the heart is not made to lead you.

Recognize with your mind the destruction of the path you are presently on because of it, then command your will to rein in your heart, and determine to steer it on the right path of God. In otherwords;

“…Repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance” Acts 26:20.

The key is DON’T follow your heart!

* * * * * * *

*1 Side Note:

If you choose to be angry at someone for a while, your heart will often choose to be angry too. But your heart can't have the emotion of anger so what it does is hate.

Like love, this is hard to turn once it takes root.

Pride is also found in the heart - II Chronicles 32:26.

I believe bitterness is also found there - Proverbs 14:10,

among many others - Proverbs 19:21.

These are not actually emotions (that belong to the mind), these are much more base that that, which is the realm of the heart.

Am I saying the heart has no place in our life? Of course not!

The scripture has a lot to say about the role of the heart and although more often than not, we are warned about the counsel of the heart, nonetheless we find in Proverbs 20:5; "Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out." The heart does indeed have great deep ideas based upon much more than intellect, but it is not very good at simply expressing those depths in simple form and it takes understanding to separate the good counsel from the deceitful heart.

But a heart of stone or a heart of flesh, neither has the rightful role to lead us, even if the idea is good. Yet like a rider with no horse, without the unified participation of the heart we would not get very far.

The Heart is extremely complex and I regret only a single post where it would take a book to due it justice. I highly recommend a bible study of the Heart to understand its proper role.

*

Quote of The Day

"Growing numbers of people are less interested in spiritual principles and more desirous of learning pragmatic solutions for life"
- "Wretched" T.V. program
* * *

The scriptures were not written in a way to successfully apply blind obedience to simple rules for success. Rather they must be deeply studied under the influence of the Holy Spirit to understand the heart of God, before successful application can be made.

"...and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls" James 1:21.

"...as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;
As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction" II Peter 3:15-16.

This does not mean you need somebody smarter than you to teach you what it says, it means it is your job to become learned, and stable, and experience the application of the truth of scripture in your own life.

The passage continues;
"Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness" II Peter 3:17.

I lived many years of my Christian life giving God bits of my spare time, and then complaining to him when my life didn't go right. It never crossed my mind that I was not doing my part since I didn't know I had a part.
I had confused my salvation with my "family duties" and thought it was all his responsibility.
Do not fall into this common trap, and then be diligent not to fall back into it after escaping;

"For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning" II Peter 2:20.
*

Falling Short

continued:
Post 166

“For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth the blessing from God:
But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.” Hebrews 6:7-8

We understand that most all the earth gets rain from time to time, but not all soil produces good fruit, even though it received the rain.
The soil that does respond with good fruit receives the blessing from God.
But the soil that grows bad produce is rejected and burned in the end.
But this is not the end yet! Note the soil that produces briers, although it is now rejected, is only now “nigh unto cursing” This passage is clear to say; There is still time for you to use the rain of Salvation and begin to produce good fruit before the time of burning arrives!

The reason why Hebrews is so hard for most Christians to interpret is because they read it through the corrupt lens of "acceptable sin".
They cannot comprehend that the scripture actually means they must cast off by choice the bad seed, and therefore the bad crop, to sow good seed and therefore good crop.

Why?
Because experience tells them, it cannot be done.
Welcome to the labor part of entering into the rest.


"Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it." Hebrews 4:1

If ever there was a people who have proven that diligence plus time cannot produce good crop (results) from bad seed (effort), it is the Jews.
They have labored long and hard to find the promised rest, but have "seemed to come short."

The secret internal war which the large portion of today's Christians are battling and loosing, is caused by the same bad produce from the same bad seed.

So what is missing for success?
surely not works.
surely not endurance.
surely not grace.
This verse tells us the key element is fear.

Fear of what?
Fear of coming short?
Although this is a legitimate fear, which many have finally abandon, I see many earnest Christians quite concerned about coming short, yet they too seem to come short.
So by practical trial and error, the fear of coming short does not seem to be the key element here, though it may be an encouragement to continue the search.

* * *

Fear of God.

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments:..." Psalm 111:10
But why should they fear?
They have the promise of Abraham.
They have been given atonement through sacrifice.
They should be secure! There is no need for fear!

Have you ever watched a guy arrogant in his skill or ability?
He can do what he does in his sleep! He is that good.
Then invariably at the very time he showcases his ability for the purpose of impressing someone, that thing he has done a thousand times goes horribly wrong, and he makes a great wreak of it, bringing shame on himself!
Why? Was it a lack of skill or effort or practice? no.
It was over confidence. It was a lack of fear.

In this case, a lack of fear is the failure to use proper caution to insure success.
The fear of the LORD is a due moral reverence, a caution not to offend him, a proper caution to insure success.
"For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God." Deuteronomy 4:24

Now I have often heard the reaction that "this is no God I want to serve!"
Yet these are often the same people who have no problem feeling justified in their jealousy if their wife/husband started running around with other people.

and now we are back to perspective.
Try this on for perspective; "Understand therefore this day, that the LORD thy God is he which goeth before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, (your enemies) and he shall bring them down before thy face:.." Deuteronomy 9:3
Suddenly we don't mind so much this consuming fire!
again, the reason is because of perspective.

We all like to cheer for our pet team, and hope they win the contest against their opponent. But if you moved to the other's community, it would be easy to change allegiances and hope success for those you used to wish failure.

Nothing has changed but your perspective... your allegiance.
In these verses God is just recommending you move to his town as it were.
Choose to fully engage with his drives, his plans, his successes.
Join his team.
He is still a consuming fire, but now its a good thing!

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom:..."
How?
The colon says an explanation is coming next;
"...a good understanding have all they that do his commandments:..."
Having a healthy fear of offending God, causes one to seriously learn the intentions behind his commandments for the purpose of understanding how best to obey his heart's desire and not just the letter of the rule.

The letter tells the Jews they are God's chosen people of promise.
But they have wrongly assumed this means they can act anyway they want without consequences as long as they fulfill the letter of the law.
Clearly that didn't work out so well for them... though they are still the people of promise!
If you know flowers makes your wife happy, does that mean you can sleep with her best friend, then bring her flowers to make it all better?
Clearly, that is corrupting the whole purpose of bringing flowers, and such a corruption cannot bring about the desired result of her happiness.

So do flowers make her happy or not?! I'm confused.

* * *

Today's Christian has the same false confidence in the blood of Christ, believing he can now do anything he pleases without consequence.
It was not true for the Jew then, and it is not true for the Christian now.

"For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin,
But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries." Hebrews 10:26-27

Clearly, we see here that God's fiery indignation is not targeted at somebody specific he just doesn't not like, it is targeted at anyone who sins willfully... "Them" or us.
Why?
Because whoever sins willfully is the enemy of God, even if you call yourself a Christian.

“But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.” Hebrews 6:9

* * *

Frankly, Experiencing now that rest, I quickly forget how hard it was to find it.
It is honestly easy now so long as I am careful to maintain it. But careful is a very weak word for the consequence avoided! Diligent might be a better word. The deceitfulness of sin has a very powerful ability to lure us in willingly because it uses our own desires against us, much like the pixie on the end of a fishing line does not attack the fish, it beguiles the fish to willingly attach himself to the hook!

In my own labor to find that rest, I finally learned to comprehend what was nearly impossible to comprehend;

The labor needed to enter into his rest, is not the battle to overcome sin.

* * *

How long have you battled against the sin that often plagues you?
You long to be free of it but it has you in such a grip you are powerless?
The scripture calls these; besetting sins. (Hebrews 12:1)

beset 2139 euperistatos; ...well standing around, i.e. (a competitor) thwarting (a racer) in every direction (figuratively of sin in general).

You cannot win the battle against these sins by force of will.
But because we know of no other way, we continue to try.
and we continue to fail.
and we get no closer to that rest until we become so wearied we just quit trying.
But having strong unwavering confidence that the scriptures are true, we cling to the faith that somehow seems to fail us.
Sound familiar?
We have seen the Jews bang their heads on the ruins of their temple mount for 2000 years with the same frustration. How long will you beat your head against your own spiritual wailing wall crying out for real salvation that never seems to come?

"But what else can I do?" you ask.

The problem is, You have already be given the salvation you seek, you just keep rejecting it...just as the Jews.
Your problem is not exclusive to you. It is universal to all those across all time who seek God but are willfully ignorant of the one basic requirement for success.

Are you figuring out what that is yet?

The secret to finding that rest; is not the battle agaisnt sin,
It is a heart after God alone.

* * *

I hope that by following my trail of provocation, your labor might be reduced, and your arrival sooner.
But the trail is still yours to travel.
My hope is that this blog might be an encouragement that it can be done, and that indeed this is what God intended by salvation; To enter into his rest, here, today, in this life.

It is important that you are fully convinced that God does not play well with sin.
This is foundational to success.
“This then is the message which we have heard of him, (Jesus) and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:” John 1:5-6

Recap:
Jesus, the Son of God.
Came to earth for the purpose of dying on our behalf.
And of all the magnitude of what he said and did while on this earth, THIS THEN IS THE MESSAGE WHICH WE HAVE HEARD OF HIM!
That’s it. here it is. The sum of it all; The message is:

GOD HAS NOTHING GOOD FOR THE HEART THAT WALKS IN DARKNESS!

* * *

I know you know this.
And I know you can clearly see the falling short in yourself.
I know you are frustrated with yourself because of this, and I know the effort to which you have diligently tried to succeed.

Yet still you automatically defend yourself by explaining you are not walking in darkness... and therefore your problems must be God's fault.

This thought is the spirit of Hell talking, in which you have long confided by familiarity.
and finally, we have come to the secret key, that is not secret at all;
Choosing your team by abandoning all others.

We have the clear representation of this truth in the marriage ceremony;
The simple words "I do." have significant power to change your world, but only so long as you cling to them in your heart.
A bad marriage is still a marriage while the head chooses by will to keep that vow though the heart has departed. but the marriage with the heart fully on board is a thing to behold!

I cannot emphasize strongly enough to begin a new labor to enter into his rest, by purging your life of daily and comfortable offenses to God.
Don't start with the besetting sins YOU want to be free of, but the comfortable sins; those sins you have convinced yourself are not sins, but are indeed offenses to God. Start with these.
Do not do this casually. This is foundational to what salvation is all about.
NOT because you need to be sinless in your own effort, that is impossible, just as it is impossible to always please your spouse,(I John 1:8,10) but because your heart cannot follow after darkness if you want to walk with God. (I John 1:7,2:3-4)
Choosing to purge your life of these sins, and replacing the space with godliness, will eventually bring your heart back around by making it familiar and intimate with righteousness, and learn to love the God of righteousness.
We have the example of this mystery in every young girl who by familiarity, falls madly in love with the criminal woman abuser. Her head may actually hate him for his conduct, but by familiarity her heart loves him.
The Heart does not comprehend the law, this is the job of the Will in obedience to the Mind. But that is another post all together.
We learn to love God with our heart, by familiarity of his intimacy which we choose by our will in subjection to our mind.

I John 3:5-10 *1 cannot be proven accomplished until that rest is found, but this passage makes clear that it must be proven accomplished to be the child of God.
Here is where the distinction can be found to identify just who is the child of God and who is the child of the devil;
"In this the children of God are made manifest,(revealed, made apparent) and the children of the devil:
Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother." (3:10)
Yet the church is full of these impostors whose lack of righteousness reveals whose children they actually are, and there is good chance that includes you.
Are they the children of the Devil?
Harsh! But clearly; Yes.
Do I say this for the purpose of casting judgment? NO! but to hold a mirror to your face that you may get a clear image of what others see but are too polite to declare.
With this clear image you can then have the knowledge of where to begin the labor needed to fix the problem. *2

The entire book of I John must be completely ignored as long as it is believed that a Christian can walk in casual daily sin and be OK. Hebrews too... and II Peter, and... well, actually... the entire bible!
Yet that is exactly what most of today's Christian do while denying it!

we have been beguiled by the deceitfulness of sin!
"Go ahead, you won't die!"
But God declares otherwise.

* * *

Now at first this might sound and seem like legalism which we are all warned against.
And if you think the act of obedience makes God obligated to respond, then it is legalism. And if you think the achievement of a sin free life will get you to heaven, then for sure it is legalism.

But if your heart’s motive is to learn to love God, then the act of will is not legalism but a schoolmaster. Romans 2:14-22 in other words we can use the law as the schoolmaster it was intended to be in the first place, even after we obtained grace but fell short.
We use the law as instructing us in the ways of loving God.
“Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.” Galatians 3:24-25
“What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” Romans 7:7

Yet here is where the legalism of Grace keeps us from understanding our path to rest.
We assume because we started our faith as Gentiles in Christ under grace, that we cannot have use of the law.
Yet we have abused the grace of Christ in our ignorance of the law, and therefore are rebels in our lawlessness. We then need the same thing the Jews needed to prepare the path of Jesus’ arrival; we need a schoolmaster until our faith is mature and grace is understood, and that rest is entered into.
This is precisely what Paul agonized over in this process of labor with his juvenile church;
“My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,” Galatians 4:19

This is the problem with our church today as well, but our doctrine now refuses us to mature in fear of legalism.
And of course with all things, the pendulum always swings until plumb is found, so we should be aware of the bondage of legalism we may gravitate to once there.
Following the law does not make us righteous, nor is it the end goal.

Today I need no law or command to tell me not to take God’s name in vain. I choose to avoid such offense because it is now in my heart to do so.
But prior to that, I had grown so accustom to my movies and friends using this offense, that I hardly noticed and it was not offensive to me.
Therefore in obedience to the law as my teacher, I re-organized my thinking to learn that God was offended with this use. *3
There are many other such examples of unbelief that we Christians fall into “under grace”, which grace does not cover.

Once again, for clarity;
Am I suggesting we willingly place ourselves under the law?
NO!
Only that we can use the law for a time, to teach us what we have corrupted.

We know we are corrupted if we claim to stand in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, (Galatians 5:1) yet show by our lives the works of the flesh. (Galatians 5:19-21)

Much to the surprise of many, Grace does not reign alone, but is embodied in righteousness.
“That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 5:21
The secret is to learn how to identify our righteousness vs. God’s righteousness.
Because the two are worlds apart!
“And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:” Philippians 3:9
"What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.
Wherefore?
Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law..." Romans 9:31-32
So while beguiled Christians cry; “…all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags;…” Isaiah 64:6 The words are true, but the understanding is corrupted.
This passage does not claim all righteousness is as rags... only OURS.
We must labor to learn how to differentiate our's from God’s, and then put on God’s.
“And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” Ephesians 4:24

"What is the whole point?"
A heart that seeks after God.

* * * * * * *

*1 I John 3:5-10
"And ye know that he was manifest (apparent,revealed, made known) to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.
Whosoever abideth (to stay, continue, dwell) in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.
Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is rightious.
He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother."

*2 Mirror:
"For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass (mirror): For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was." James 1:23-24

*3 The Lord’s Name in Vain:
post 118: - The Flying Role - http://when-did-reason-die.blogspot.com/2010/11/flying-roll.html
*

Beyond Salvation

Hebrews 6:1-2
(Significantly updated 2/17/2011)
Post 165

Following up the previous post, I would like to expand on a few concepts.
But before I do, I feel pressed to confirm that there is of course nothing more important than your eternal salvation… even more important than your successful birth into this present world.
It is the Christian belief that life begins at conception, and even if that life is snuffed out before the child is born into this world, the scriptures tend to indicate that God has made provision for their entry into eternal life. *1
But a person who faces eternity without salvation is utterly lost and in desperate need of salvation before they die, *2 which God has provided though the sacrifice of his Son Jesus the Christ, and by the power of his resurrection from the dead. *3
Whatever happens after this new birth (born into the family of God) is secondary when evaluated against the successful event of birth.
We see the spiritual concept of this as represented in the physical world;
After a child is born successfully, we then move on into feeding, potty training, education, discipline, etc. all in the process of raising the child to be all that he/she can be.
But none of these things matters if the child was never born.
It is not a matter of degree of importance; it just has no relevance at all.

In the same way, the only thing that my blog can offer the person who has not found salvation, is the knowledge that you need salvation. *4
This salvation the scriptures identify with being born again. *5
This is because we are born into the world of the flesh the first time,
And born into the Spirit of God the second time. *6

I am offering the idea, that just as life of the flesh begins before birth, so the Christian's life is conceived at salvation, and then lives the rest of his time in the flesh as the spiritual pre-natal stage, to be born into life eternal at the time of his death. However long that period is, it should be used to develop your spiritual health and viability for your eternal life.

Now once your child is born, and you bring it home from the hospital, do you prop it up in the Lazyboy and figure your work is done?
When your friends come by, and at one look and smell they say; “I think your child needs some serious attention!” Do you respond defensively with; “My child was born and that’s all that matters.”

Of course not!
So why are there so many Christians fully confident to declare; “I was saved by the blood of Jesus back in ‘86, and anything I do more than that would be works.”

This is confusion of doctrine.
Changing your baby’s diapers has little to do with his birth, other than a need that naturally arises because he was born.

Are you saved?
If not, Get saved. That is where you must start. Seek out your Maker and choose to give him your homage *7 as supreme authority in your life.

If you are saved, Great.
Now the new life begins!

* * *
I speak now to the all too common Christian who has been beguiled into lethargy, and in danger of entering eternity with spiritual Down Syndrome *8:

Beguiled; 1818 exapatao, from 1537 and 538; to seduce wholly.
“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.” II Corinthians 11:3-4

I use this verse here to show the extent to which beguilement can and actually will eventually go *9, but in this post I am addressing the beginning of this beguilement.
That beginning is forgetting the simplicity of Christ's message;
To save us from our sin.
When we forget this, we then begin focusing on "other things" (wicked heart's desire) and begin the casting off every useful work (obedience) that scripture guides us into after salvation. *10 Without the useful work or with the misapplication of it, our faith becomes dead,*11 and we are then primed to receive another gospel with perhaps even the same name. Today we call this effortless, works-less, purposeless, corruption of faith, the gospel of grace.
That dead gospel is where the majority of Christians camp today, in opposition to the Gospel of the scriptures, and they camp there because they have been beguiled to think the only alternative is salvation by works which the scriptures clearly stand against. *12

What a dilemma;
To work or not to work; How can they both be wrong?

So today, we find ourselves in confusion, doing exactly what the Jews do through works, camping on their law, and animal sacrifice when they mess up, all the while still missing the whole point.
But we through no works, camp on grace, and Jesus sacrifice when we mess up, but can't see how we too are missing the whole point.

What makes us think we will by pass their same fate, if we miss the same point?
I wish I could explain this.
Oh wait!
There is a whole book of scripture already conveniently written on this subject!
The entire book of Romans deals with this confusion:

“Thou wilt say then, The branches (Jews) were broken off, that I (Gentile) might be graffed in.
Well; (True;) because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not high minded, but fear:
For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.” Romans 11:19-22

This passage tells us exactly why the Jews were cut off; “because of unbelief”
And it tells us Gentiles where to watch for the similar fate; “in failing to continue in his goodness”

Are these the same thing?
No,
“Belief” is not works, it is just faith,
Whereas “continuing in goodness” is action; i.e. works.

“Now wait just a minute!
Is this saying what I think it is saying?”
The Jews were cut off because they lacked faith
But the Gentile is in danger of being cut off because we lack works?

That sounds like God got confused as to just who is obligated to what!

* * *
Isn’t that curious.

And God smiles as we suddenly realize we are all the same with the same obligation toward God, even if it presents with various appearances.

“For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.” Romans 10:12

We are, (both Jew and Gentile) supposed to do good works,
and we are, (both Jew and Gentile) supposed to believe in Him who is beyond the works.
And we are both in danger of being cut off for not figuring out the part that doesn’t seem to come naturally;
The Jews camp on their works (law) as instructed, but ignore belief,
The Gentiles camp on their faith (grace) as instructed, but ignore the doing.
And both are failing the whole point!

“What is the whole point?”
I’m getting to that.

* * *

So first the Jews failed.
Now it is the Gentiles turn.
But our turn is about over, because we are completing our failure too.
and soon God will turn his attention back onto the Jew, while the Gentile will be cut off.

As we cannot now see the clarity of this whole concept because of beguilement, the knowledge cannot reach our heart with wisdom that enables a properly changed life from the core. i.e. salvation of the soul. *13 Therefore we view the scripture from a comprehension of corruption while we try to make sense of it, very much as the Downs embryo tries to properly divide the cells of confusion; There is a foundational flaw in the very building instructions of life, which has been mysteriously added in.
There is nothing actually missing in the construction, it just isn't put together right.
The result is not perfection *14.

After we were given that much needed rout of redemption through the blood sacrifice of Jesus the Christ, we then abused that rout to ends never intended by calling this additional sin "covered by Grace".
So now, how can we recover from the corruption of that which was to enable us to recover from corruption?

Oh wait again!
There is another passage of scripture already written regarding this too!
Pretty much the whole book of Hebrews directly speaks to this topic. How can I not write here the entire book as evidence!?
But for space I will include only these highlights;
“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,…” Hebrews 1:1-2
Meaning The One God spoke the same message to the OT people and the NT people using a variety of methods.

“Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.” 2:1
If the message is the same through the ages, we should seriously take a look at all the elements of the message given so we don't casually forget them and miss the concept.

“How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation;…” 2:3
This neglecting ( extra chromosome 21) is the result of the beguilement mentioned above, which leads to;

“Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
But exhort one another daily, while it is called today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”… 3:13

The danger shown here is the same danger the Jews fell to; “an evil heart of unbelief.”
And we see this unbelief comes through the “deceitfulness of sin”.

* * *

What does that deceitfulness look like?
It looks like the very first beguiling temptation; “Go ahead, you will not die!” Genesis 3:4 (slightly paraphrased)

The serpent validated his statement with a reasonable, and mostly true argument to support his claim and Eve's desire. Genesis 3:5

Eve did not accidentally slip and fall onto the forbidden fruit with her mouth. (Grace covers that kind of sin, rare as it is likely to be. I John 2:1)
No, She chose to intentionally disobey.
But it wasn't out of malice toward God, she was beguiled into it by the serpent and the thoughts of her own lust; The desire of her heart. (James 1:14)
Yet it was willful none the less. (There is no grace for this kind. Hebrews 6:4-8) "For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin." Hebrews 10:26

Willful disobedience is that sin which cuts you off from God; whether you are in the garden of Eden, or covered with Jesus blood, or anywhere on the timeline between.
This is so utterly frightening in the magnitude of what it means:

"Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God;...for ye know how that afterward, when he (Esau) would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, thou he sought it carefully with tears." Hebrews 12:14-17
Who is Esau? The father of the Edomites, (Deut.2:4) Muslims today, as "the other" (grand)children of Abraham. (Genesis 25:23, Hebrews 11:20) He was actually the first born and the rightful heir of the promise that now belongs to Jacob. (Israel)
Now neither brother was all that righteous, but Esau failed of that grace, and because of his wicked heart he sold away his birthright for a morsel, yet all these thousands of years later his entire family line hates his brother with thoughts of murder for his own action of folly.
Esau had the first chance to be "The" children of Abraham, but it meant nothing to him at the time. Only later did he really want what was no longer his.
It was not the magnitude of his sin act that cost him so dearly, it was his entire mindframe that allowed him to give in to his momentary desire with no regard for anything else.
Think about that in your daily willful sins of small disobediences.

We gasp in disbelief that a young man would sell his birthright for a bowl of soup. So what is your Christian birthright worth to you? a blasphemous tongue? a quick roll in the hay?
By Eve's willful disobedience she was cast forever out of the Garden of God.
With this in mind, how valuable is the offer of your salvation now?

"Of how much more sorer punishment, suppose you, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the spirit of grace?" Hebrews 10:29

This is the source of Christ's future Just treatment of his enemies through the law of an eye for an eye described here;
"I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment." Isaiah 63:3
You tread on my blood, I tread on yours!

Who are these enemies toward which Jesus seems to have a greater vengeance than those who failed the law of Moses? clearly those who were given the blood of the covenant of Jesus Christ and abused it so casually!
And you thought God treated the Jews bad!

"So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue (vomit) thee out of my mouth." Revelation 3:16

“Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.” Hebrews 4:1

Now if all this is terrifying you to the point of inaction, you are missing the heart of the writer.
This is supposed to be the kind of fear that says; "Wow that's bad! Lets make sure we don't fall into that category of those who seem to come short of that rest!"

Is it too late? Do you already seem to come short?
Note the careful wording of the verse. If you are a believer but have made a real mess of it thus far, there is still hope in this verse, because at this point you only SEEM to come short of his rest, meaning there is still time in this spiritual pre-natal stage, you can still find His rest if you recognize your error and change your present path! *15


* * *

What is his rest?

It is the state of existence found after overcoming the deceitfulness of sin.
Not “a” sin, but the spirit of sin; the very concept of the deceitfulness that promotes sin.
Not once, but a successful life choice.
It is finding the Power to overcome sin... but More.
Overcoming sin is a contest, a battle. That is not rest.
But having overcome sin is a past event.
The rest then, is a place found after the battle against sin is successfully won... by understanding how to overcome sin!
(The labor until entry, is learning that understanding, not actually battling sin.)
We are never done battling sin until death, but once the overcoming understanding is acquired, there is rest even as we continually overcome sin because sin no longer has any power against us.
Am I tempted to fornicate? perhaps, but does that sin have claws in my heart to pull me into falling? No! because that battle is easily won as long as I remain in Christ's rest. How? Because I am trained in recognizing the deceitfulness of sin and not focused on the sin itself.
This goes for all battles against sin.
The labor is finding that rest in Christ.

"My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not." I John 2:1a
This is a statement all its own. This sentence and thought is complete.
But for that occasional, accidental, result of confusion, caught off guard, wow-I-didn't-see-that-coming sin, the verse has an addendum;
"and if any man sin, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ the righteous:"
The first part of this verse speaks to willful sin, the second part to accidental sin.
The first part says; Don't do it. The second part says; Don't worry about it!

The knowledge of this is vital because there is an unlimited supply of grace to cover the second kind, and virtually nothing of grace to cover the first.

But here is the hard part;
YOU DON’T KNOW ANYONE WHO HAS FOUND THIS KIND OF REST!
So logically this passage cannot mean that.
Or so I thought as I struggled with this concept myself.

“Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” Hebrews 4:11
So it is unbelief which keeps us from finding that rest, as we stop trying to get there due to unbelief; i.e. the experiential conclusion; "It can't be done."

Today, all I see around me is the example of unbelief.
But this should be no surprise.
God cast off an entire people, an entire “age” if you will, for this example of unbelief, (saving the elect of them) and here in Hebrews we are warned about falling to the same thing.

Well, here we are.
In the last days,
Seeing an entire “age” fallen again to unbelief while still diligently practicing the faith!
Which is right on cue for the Last Days events prophesied.

"But where does that leave us?"
Hacking through the overgrowth on the long unused path to that rest, where few have gone in our lifetime!
Yet in great rejoicing, like Paul I can declare; I HAVE FOUND THAT REST! Follow me. I Corinthians 4:16-17

But how can you know I am not blowing smoke?
Lots of people make wild claims these days.
And you don’t know me.
Therefore my claim holds no water for you to drink.

So listen to these words of the scripture and believe them! Then be encouraged to go to God himself for the wisdom to seek that rest which the scripture tells you is there.
"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light." Matthew 11:29-30

How light can a yoke be?
I know many Christians who don't want to call God a liar, but find his yoke mighty encumbering. I think you will find the reason is because a plow yoke does not look good with cocktail dress!
Some men's wives are a delight that lifts their very soul, while others are a chain around their neck. The difference is the heart's desire.
If you find Christ's yoke chafing your neck, it is because plowing with Jesus is not where you want to be. Even a feather is an irritant to be brushed off if you don't want it there!
I confess I found Christ's yoke plenty burdensome for far too many years as I had my head in the faith and my heart on the road while laboring to find that elusive rest.

"And having a high priest (Jesus) over the house of God;
Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from and evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water (of the word)
Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." Hebrews 10:21-25

Kinda has alot more punch now, don't it?

* * *
Continued in the next post!


* * * * * * *
*1 Below the Age of Accountability:
Regretfully I cannot seem to lay my hands on the passage, but will post this soon.

*2 Original State:
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;…” Romans 3:23a
“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23
“He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:18

*3 Provision of Salvation:
“…The word of faith which we preach;
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Romans 10:8b-9

*4 Preaching to Faith:
“How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” Romans 10:14

*5 Born Again:
“Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3-4
Galatians 4:19 gives us a curious insight into the process leading up to the event;
"My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,..." Paul, being the mother of their faith, is describing the travail, the labor experienced UNTIL Christ is created in them.
Using the physical example of pre-natal gestation, their spiritual embryo is struggling to form that viable life of Christ in them, enabling them to be "born" as viable Christians. Paul is describing spiritual contractions as they develop.

I Peter 1:22 shows elements that establish this viability; "Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:"
Then continues in the next verse, most often interpreted to mean the birth that takes place at death; "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." But the tense of this concept is established in the several preceding verses; I Peter 1:13-21 "...Be sober and hope to the end for the grace..." v.13, "...that your faith and hope..."v.21
This preceding section indicates whatever we have been given is not yet finished.
So I became curious as the the tense of the word "born" as used in 1:23 and found that particular word "born" in this verse is unique to all the other places used.

Born 313 anagennao; from 303 and 1080; to beget or (by extension) bear (again).
303 fatness; i.e. (fertile).
1080 (Chaldean) corresponding to 1086 (but used only in a mental sense); to afflict.
This verse and use of the word born, is not referring to the event of the new spiritual birth "born again" but to the transformation process of reaching that goal.

Now the next chapter begins describing these "born again" as "newborn babes" 2:2
and then goes on to lay down conduct fitting.
But this is built upon the mental affliction of fatness created in them in the "birth" identified in 1:23.
So we see the concept actually fits the development of the pre-natal construction of the spiritual embrio as the "birth" of 1:23 can be shown to be the actual conception of a new Christian.
There is so much more, but I have to stop this post before it becomes a book of its own, and we have crossed the line into spiritual biochemistry which most people are really not interested in, nor need, so long as they remember the simplicity of Christ;
My brethern, do not sin.
"We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keeppeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not." I John 5:18
yet I can't stop!
Begotten 1080 gennao; to procreate (properly of the father, but by extension of the mother) figuratively to regenerate.
we have two points of the process here, not one; born and begotten. OK, enough.

*6 Two Births; flesh and spirit:
“Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.” John 3:5-6

*7 Homage:
1. A ceremony by which a man acknowledged himself the vassal of a lord; also, the relation between the lord and his vassal. 2. An act done or thing rendered as an acknowledgment of, or as part of the services required by, vassalage. 3. Respect or reverential regard; deference; especially respect paid by external action; obeisance. - Syn. See LOYALTY. - Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary 5th edition 1948

*8 Down Syndrome:
http://www.ndss.org/ - a very interesting and informative site.
The more I study Down Syndrome to check the accuracy of my comparative representation, I am surprised how accurate or equal the representation actually is.
Downs embryo cells do not fail to endeavor the processes of construction, they are simply using additional instruction (chromosome 21) than the design intended. I fully purpose to improve my understanding further.
But at this point, like the Downs embryo, today's average Christian attempts to add into the construction of their faith additional elements of "acceptable sin" which the design is not meant to include. The result is a corruption at the very foundation of the faith which brings to the entire regeneration a significant retardation.

Curiously, there are three ways which the additional chromosome 21 of Down Syndrome (information) is obtained; Most often from the mother, rarely from the father, or originating in the first division of the fertilized egg.
As we saw Paul representing the spiritual mother of these new Christians in Galatians, we can see that the doctrine of the preacher is how half of the information (spiritual DNA) is passed. God being the Father provides the other half of the spiritual DNA through the Spirit and the Word. Therefore if the preacher is a carrier of this genetic flaw, the spiritual offspring will bear this flaw in its own development, or occasionally for reasons not yet understood, develop the corruption of doctrine on its own regardless of the pure doctrine of the mother and father. I cannot offer any insight at this time into the origin of this genetic flaw as being from the Father.
(Remember I am speaking here as a spiritual biochemist in the early stages of discovery looking for the causes and cures of a common disease.)

* 9 Beguilement:
Would it surprise you to know that the religion of Islam is now watching for the arrival of the prophet Isa? The English translation of Isa is Jesus.
This prophet will be the actual Jesus this passage warns about.
He will be promoted (preached) by perhaps the Mahdi, (our Antichrist).
He will provide another spirit.
And preach another gospel (of Allah).
This passage has been a useful “idea” until now, but here in the end times, this passage is speaking plainly of specifics soon to come.

*10 Useful Works:
The scripture is utterly full of this concept as exampled in these passages;
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10
“That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;” Colossians 1:10
“If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work” II Timothy 2:21
“That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” II Timothy 3:17
“Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” Titus 2:14
“This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.” Titus 3:8
“And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:” Hebrews 10:24

*11 Dead Faith:
“They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.” Titus 1:16
“Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, (salvation) let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of (dead) faith toward God,” Hebrews 6:1
“Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou has faith, and I have works: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.” James 2:17-18

*12 Salvation not by Works:
“Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we (Christian Jews) have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” Galatians 2:16
“But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith:” Galatians 3:11-12
and on and on. The scriptures are very clear on this point.

*13 Salvation of the Soul:
“But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.” Hebrews 10:39
“Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.” James 1:21
“Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.” James 5:20
“Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.” Ezekiel 18:27

*14 Perfect:
Strong's Concordance of the Bible:
Genesis 6:9 "Noah was a just man and perfect..." 8549,
I kings 8:61 "Let your heart therefore be perfect..." 8003
Matthew 5:48 "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your father... 5046 Philippians 3:15 "Let us therefore, as many as be perfect..."5046
Galatians 3:3 "are ye now made perfect in the flesh?" 2005

8549 (Hebrew) tamiym; from 8552; entire (literally, figuratively or morally); also (as noun) integrity, truth.
8003 (Hebrew) shalem; from 7999; complete (literally or figuratively); especially friendly.
5046 (Greek) teleios; from 5056; complete (in various applications of labor, growth, mental and moral character, etc.); completeness:- of full age, man, perfect.
2005 (Greek) epiteleo; from 1909 and 5055; to fulfill further (or completely), i.e. execute; by implication to terminate, undergo.

This word "Perfect" though used in scripture with slight variations, is not identifying something without any flaws.
It is identifying something as having properly reached maturity or completeness.
In the construction trade I have built many houses. Each of them is finished. But there is not one of them that after completion I have not wished I had done a few things differently. Yet in the intended use of scripture, I can say they are all complete and properly functioning as design intended. they are perfect.

*15 Additional Sin:
Abandon/reject the continual reproduction of the corruption of additional acceptable sin (extra chromosome 21)
There is sin covered by grace, and sin that is not, as I have adequately shown.
"If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it." I John 5:16

In my comparison, excessive sin that is covered, is the additional chromosome 21 resulting in spiritual Down Syndrome, if it does not result first in the more probable natural pre-natal termination, just as is the case in this present world. http://www.uic.edu/classes/bms/bms655/lesson9.html
"Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
And then I will profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." Matthew 7:22-23 (see also Hebrews 6:4-6)
Iniquity = extra chromosome 21
Iniquity 458 anomia; from 459; illegality, i.e. violation of law or (generally) wickedness.

If this present world is so amazingly complex, why do we imagine the spiritual is so simple?
If you accept the possibility that this post is correct, and then read your scriptures (DNA of the faith) with this perspective, you will find nearly every verse has new and significant meaning that could not be seen or understood from the other perspective.
In otherwords, your spiritual being will be properly constructed.
*